Miss USA 2024 Alma Cooper revealed that she wouldn\u2019t attend the iconic pageant or crown her successor in Nevada on Friday night \u2014 just hours before the event started.<\/p>\n
Cooper made the \u201cextremely difficult decision\u201d to skip the Miss USA 2025 event in Reno, Nev., as she announced her time has come to step away from beauty pageants.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I close this chapter, I do so with the knowledge that I finished what I started with integrity and my self-worth held high, just like the crown I was honored to wear,\u201d Cooper wrote in the cryptic Instagram post.<\/p>\n
Alma Cooper celebrates being named Miss USA at the Miss USA Pageant in Los Angeles, Calif. on Aug. 4, 2024. Getty Images<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old West Point graduate represented her home state of Michigan in last year\u2019s contest, where she won and represented her country<\/a> at Miss Universe 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cIn every aspect of my life, I am always in pursuit of excellence,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI brought that same attitude with me when I won the title of Miss USA, energized by the opportunity to inspire youth across the globe at Miss Universe and within communities across the nation. <\/p>\n \u201cI am a firm believer that excellence means nothing if it stops with me, instead I want my growth to be something others can build on.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s post was accompanied by photos of her wearing a mini dress and her Miss USA sash on the campus of Stanford University, where she is a Knight Hennessy Fellow.<\/p>\n Cooper did not place at the global pageant last year in Mexico, where Miss Denmark Victoria Kj\u00e6r Theilvig was crowned Miss Universe 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n Alma Cooper became the first active-duty Army officer to be crowned Miss USA. Alma Cooper\/Instagram<\/p>\n Alma Cooper\/Instagram<\/p>\n She did not give a reason for her absence at Friday night\u2019s event, where it is tradition for the previous year\u2019s winner to crown their successor.<\/p>\n Cooper detailed the hardships she faced when she became the first active-duty Army officer to be crowned Miss USA.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt a responsibility as a role model for others, and I refused to let anyone down. Still, the pressure of working under such harsh circumstances while staring down the fast-approaching Miss Universe competition, where I\u2019d face women competing with the full support of their countries, I became a shell of my former self,\u201d she wrote in an essay for People.<\/a><\/p>\n Cooper began running to help her mentally, competing in three marathons before accepting a position with the Army Recruiting Division, where she found a purpose in service.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I traveled coast to coast, talking to thousands of the brightest, most motivated young people in the country, I continued to find hope in the human spirit. What I didn\u2019t expect were the many people who found hope in mine,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Theilvig took Cooper\u2019s place on Friday, crowning Nebraska representative Audrey Eckert\u00a0as Miss USA 2025 at the\u00a0Grand Sierra Resort.<\/p>\n \u201cTonight I am here with a lot of mixed emotions, it\u2019s gonna be my last national coronation and the last show. I\u2019m filled with gratefulness and happiness but I\u2019m also really emotional tonight,\u201d Theilvig said in an Instagram post.<\/p>\n Eckert, a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, beat out first runner-up Miss USA New Jersey, Ivy Harrington.<\/p>\n Miss Universe 2024 Victoria Kj\u00e6r Theilvig crowns Audrey Eckert as Miss USA 2025. Miss Universe\/Instagram<\/p>\n Alma Cooper competes at the 73rd Miss USA Pageant on Aug. 4, 2024. Getty Images<\/p>\n The Miss USA pageant faced several scandals in the last year and a half, including a major leadership restructuring last month.<\/p>\n The internal conflict began in May 2024 when both Miss USA titleholder Noelia Voigt <\/a>and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava resigned their crowns.<\/p>\n Srivastava claimed her personal values \u201cno longer fully align with the direction of the organization.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Insiders told The Post at the time that Voigt and Srivastava<\/a> have been wearing thorny crowns for months \u2014 forced by iron-clad contracts to silently smile despite \u201charmful workplace conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n The organizations were forced to crown previous runner-ups before Cooper was crowned Miss USA 2024.<\/p>\n The drama came to a climax in September when CEO Laylah Rose was replaced<\/a> by longtime coach and judge Thom Brodeur as the new chief executive, chairman and president of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are bringing a transformational vision rooted in technology, media and fan engagement to modernize and revitalize these titles for the next generation of powerhouse women and their worldwide fan base,\u201d Brodeur said in a statement released by the Miss Universe Organization, which oversees both\u00a0Miss USA\u00a0and Miss Teen USA.<\/p>\n The leadership overhaul delayed the Miss USA coronation several months from its ordinary August schedule to October, just under a month before Miss Universe 2025 is set to kick off in Thailand on Nov. 21. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miss USA 2024 Alma Cooper revealed that she wouldn\u2019t attend the iconic pageant or crown her successor in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[37152,37153,49,48,361,75,44274,112985],"class_list":["post-239734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-beauty-pageants","tag-beauty-queens","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-miss-universe","tag-miss-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}